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TONY BLAIR HASattacked a scheme to create a European defence force which could rival Nato.

The Prime Minister claimed the seven-point plan for a Euro army, drawn up by France and Germany, would split the EU to its heart.

But Shadow Defence Secretary Bernard Jenkin said the Prime Minister had supported the idea five years ago and was trying to ‘shut the stable door after the horse has bolted’.

The Brussels summit was seen as a deliberate snub to Britain and the US by Euro-doves – countries which opposed the war in Iraq.

France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg agreed to create training and command centres to rival Nato’s by next year.

However, French president Jacques Chirac – who headed opposition to the Iraq conflict – insisted they would not undermine the transatlantic alliance.

The aim was to end duplication of defence efforts and cut costs across Europe on security matters, he claimed.

But Mr Blair, speaking during a one-day trip to Russia, said: ‘There is a difference of view between ourselves and France about this. At some point, Europe is going to have to resolve this difference, because it goes to the heart of what Europe becomes.’

Europe should be ‘influential and strong’ but work ‘as a partner of the US, not as its rival’, added Mr Blair.

Eurosceptics blamed the Prime Minister, who signed the 1998 declaration with France in the port of St Malo, for initiating the Nato rival.

Mr Jenkin said: ‘It is no good the Government criticising this summit after having given such active support to the idea.’

Tory MP John Redwood said Britain had to choose between a Euro army and the US alliance. ‘We must choose the American alliance,’ he added.

Meanwhile, in talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin near Moscow, Mr Blair discovered the continuing depth of tensions over the Iraqi war.

Mr Putin said he was not ready to support the Prime Minister’s call to lift sanctions against Iraq. He also questioned whether Saddam had weapons of mass destruction.